FOOD LOVE

Mar 29, 2014

CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR….OR SALE

We are planning to move. Not downsizing other than the yard. We just don’t have the time to take care of the large yard and garden we have now.

We know what we want and what is a deal breaker. We have come close a few times to finding something that meets our criteria. It can be either a house or a townhouse.

large rancher – with or without a downstairs. All that matters is that the garage/entry, kitchen, master bedroom and laundry room are all on the same level.

somewhat private

modern

We have viewed a few places. I do a lot of research online before choosing a place to see. I make up my mind very quickly.

The first place was a townhouse in a gated community perched on a hillside. It was very large with two levels but all the main stuff is on the entry level. The master bedroom had two huge walk in closets. The view from both levels was fabulous.

Then someone made an offer on it before us. I was very disappointed but then the deal fell through…because there are 2 conflicting engineers reports. Seems like there was some cracking in the adjoining unit and the first engineer said the hillside erosion was the reason. The second engineers report said it was just building material failure. We were not willing to take the chance.

Keep on looking. Okay. Not too far from the first one I found this one. It is a house with a small yard. I figured the yard upkeep was doable. Beautiful windows, nice kitchen with an interesting stainless steel backsplash. Hmmm maybe.

Oh wait… what is that? Big cracks at the ceiling. Even bigger cracks in the slab patio outside the lower level. My husband didn’t like the slanting lot and I had to agree but the real kicker was the awful odour of natural gas outside. Not coming from the house but not sure where from. Well another one bites the dust.

So many that just are not suitable. They are too small, too close to their neighbours, too old and dated. I start to get panicky and start to look further away than we had planned.

I found a beautiful place. It is on a golf course. I located some virtual tours and the house is great. I was decorating it in my head but the reality of my husband and I both having to drive an hour to work and an hour home again knocked this one off our list. For a brief moment though I thought I would do be able to do it.

Time to move on….just not moving in.

Oh look what we found. Beautiful. Big. Modern. Close enough to work. What could go wrong?

Power lines! This beautiful home is right next to the giant power lines. I know!!!!! Just not something we can overlook. Even if we put something on that side of the deck so we didn’t really see the tower what about the health issues associated with these towers? So many conflicting reports on their safety. Just too close for comfort.

So the search continues. We are not in a hurry but in my mind I really am. I want to move and I want to move soon. It is hard to be disappointed each time. There have been a couple more I have viewed but didn’t include them here because they wouldn’t have been suitable like these would have been if not for the deal breakers at the end.

Hope you find what your looking for ! That's the problem with the newer houses they are slapped up so fast there are a lot of problems with them , we had friends buy a brand new house in a new subdivision and a year later the garage fell apart literally . I prefer older houses better built lol ! Hope all goes well for you ! Thanks for sharing . Have a good week and happy house hunting .

We looked and looked - had our criteria - told our agent ONLY send us to see stuff that fits our criteria - she sent links to everything that was absolutely opposite what we wanted - we looked at them online and never went to view one. Then she found one that fit our criteria - we looked at it online - drove past it - viewed it in person the next morning - put in a bid on Monday morning and it was accepted by Monday afternoon - and we lived happily ever after. When it is right, you will know - when it is wrong you already know - hang in there.

Oh, that search! It's tough! Hoping you find just the right place. Still open to selling ours if you want to drive out to Agassiz (maybe you could drive to work together??) Actually I think we're a little too small for you judging by the pictures on here. Good luck! As Jo said- when you see the right one, you'll know it.

oh dear so frustrating...we want to downsize too...kinda the some parameters as you! But we don't want to have huge HOA fees and we want to stay in the area!I am looking forward to hearing about this journey you are on!

Every house looked beautiful but the drawbacks were serious and would have also made me back out! You are lucky to have the time to keep looking. We found our Colorado home in one weekend--it was a mad rush with our Realtor and luckily the few minor drawbacks we found about the house were not major ones. No place is perfect but it is nice to get want. Good luck with your search! you really want!

Ooh fun -- I haven't been on a tour of homes for years and years. It's a blessing not to have to choose the lesser of two evils -- the exact right thing will come along soon! (Exhaustion -- and boredom -- with yard work was the deciding factor for us when we sold out and went full-time RVing a while after we retired, so I understand not wanting to take care of a big yard quite well!)